Agriculture: Land

James Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate his Department has made of the area of farmland of each agricultural land classification at risk of flooding.

Huw Irranca-Davies: DEFRA has estimated that out of a total of approximately 14 million hectares of agricultural land in England, 1.3 million hectares are in areas of potential flood risk. Of that, approximately 40 per cent. is grade 1 or 2 and 60 per cent. is grade 3, 4 or 5. DEFRA is refining this estimate with the support of its delivery partners.